Twenty Four Shades Darker: The Hunt

(2) The First Wave

The first death happened before the end of the day.

They'd been walking through the arena for hours. After a while the towering Capitolesque buildings that crowded over them gave way to small brick houses laid out in perfect straight rows, each exactly the same as the last. None of it looked stable. Most of the windows were missing and every so often there was a house without a roof, or with a huge gap instead of a wall. The road ahead was badly cracked and plants of every kind burst out of it, curling around the clumps of asphalt. Directly in front of them, if you squinted and concentrated, was a green fuzz that could have been a forest. Once the sun had begun to set a few of the tributes had started looking longingly for somewhere to stay the night but Jute, Erik and Holly just kept on going, muttering to each other. Nobody else felt much like talking. The bizarre revelation was just starting to sink in. A break out. An escape. Thirteen. Okay. Just keep walking. Though none of them would say it, nobody wanted to break away and stay in the arena alone. Not with the others walking around in such a large group.

The Careers stayed clustered together, a few paces behind the three rebels. With unspoken agreement the others had let them walk ahead and the reason hung heavily in the air; they were armed, they were dangerous and they could turn at any moment. Alix was jumping at every little shuffle or snap, her hand closed so tightly around the handle of her machete that her knuckles were white. Lincoln crept along, occasionally stopping and spinning around and then laughing at the terrified faces behind him. Satine grinned obediently every time.

"We're alive," he said, as they passed a house that was little more than a pile of bricks and dodged a large tree that had taken root in the middle of the road. Some of the others were starting to trail behind; the pair from Nine were leaning on each other, the girl yawning constantly and the boy staring straight ahead. Blaire's steps, usually bouncy and full of energy, were becoming labored. Nobody else had the energy to speak. Alix threw another one of her trademark glares in his direction and stormed a few paces ahead, her hair fluttering around her shoulders. He ignored her.

"I suppose we are." Lincoln brushed a point of dark hair away from his forehead and went back to throwing the knife, the blade flashing in the evening light. Satine paused, waiting to see if there was any more, then tried again.

"I'm not sure how."

Lincoln glanced at him as he waited for the blade to fall, flicking his hand out at the last possible moment and feeling it land with a satisfying thud. Satine looked impressed. Of course. After three days training with him this wasn't a surprise, though his ego still purred accordingly. He considered saying something and decided not to. Knife up. Knife down. Catch.

Satine changed tack and lowered his voice, gesturing to the three ahead of them. "D'you actually trust them or...?"

"Good question." Knife up. Knife down. Catch. He added a flourish, a swift stabbing movement, just to remind any of the others who were starting to feel safe that they could very easily not be safe at any given moment. "I'll make my mind up later."

"I don't," Satine offered. He'd picked up a sword from the bloodbath and was starting to toy with it, passing it from one hand to the other. Lincoln glanced at him again and he gave a sheepish smile and ran a hand through his hair.

"That's nice. Hey, Eight! Were we thinking of stopping soon or are you just trying to run us into the ground?"

"We'll stop when it gets dark," Jute replied, without turning around. "Until then-"

"Um. Jute?"

The voice, shy and quiet, belonged to the boy from Three. He was tall and lanky in the way that suggested he'd just undergone a recent growth spurt and wasn't sure where all his limbs were, his elbows and shoulders jutting out of his shirt. So far he hadn't spoken much and everybody turned to listen. He looked aroud and then jabbed a finger towards the horizon.